Objectively, is battle rap better or worse than 7 years ago? (when I started watching)

URL doing fuck all
KOTD meh
DF absolute garbage
UW to save the scene?

Not sure if I just care less about BR these days or if it's because a lot of big names don't compete anymore, or less regularly at least. Am I just being a massive faggot or are we on the round side of the curve now and BR peaked with Lux Hollow?

In the past I've always laughed at "BATTLE RAP IS DEAD" threads online but here we are and here I am.

yes and total slaughter/ether killed it... now there's nothing left to do but laugh and try to enjoy the parody that it's become, short of a gem on the here n there, but even those are becoming more and more scarce.

9 times out of 10 the only ones who don't recognize that we're in the post mortem days are the new fans/millenials who have picked up the torch.

Just curious, OP... Were you into hip hop before you discovered battle rap, or were you just a rhyming insult comedy fan? Because if it was the latter, maybe your battle rap phase is over. Me, I'm a lifer.

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Originally Posted by uuuununnn

honestly i dont even watch battles , i listen to the audio while staring into the mirror at my own reactions

Just curious, OP... Were you into hip hop before you discovered battle rap, or were you just a rhyming insult comedy fan? Because if it was the latter, maybe your battle rap phase is over. Me, I'm a lifer.

"When I was in rikers...you was in diapers! I was in cyphers.. rhyming with lifers!!!"

Admittedly 2016 has been a bit of a strange year for battle rap.... lots of good things happening in the culture but in relation to the past few years, it feels like this is the most insulated it has been in quite some time; this might be a good/not so good thing simultaneously. I think this year, Battle Rap really established itself as being a "for the culture, by the culture" entity. Contrarily, 2014/2015 brought about quite a bit of a spectacle by way of some mega cards, as well as some big battles that did draw the attention of everybody in the culture, AS WELL as those outside of it. And though most of these events/battles didn't live up to the hype, it's at least fair to say that every announcement made injected some much needed excitement into the culture.

Having said all that, this year made 2 things clear to me: 1) Battle Rap has probably reached its peak in terms of cultural significance to Hip-Hop as a whole, and it may never successfully get any bigger thus eliminating the prospect of a full move into the "mainstream". I know people shot those ambitions down immediately following Total Slaughter but this year might be the nail I the coffin 2) a "changing of the guard" is bound to take place in the coming future. with guys like Hollow/Ice/Illmac/Lux/Ars/Saurus etc all getting to the point where they've done this for as long as they have, I'm not too sure how many battles we're gonna get out of those guys. Having said that, being left with the PG steppers of today and the countless reconfigurations of rappers we've already heard before may not be the greatest thing.

So to answer the original question, is battle rap dying? Probably not, but in terms of looking ahead I'm really not too sure of what direction it's going in as a whole. Whatever though. In the meantime, the Bunker/Born Legacy/Black Ice cards will at least keep things interesting and give us some good shit to watch.

Sorry this is so long. Slow day at the job and this turned into a tangent.

Just curious, OP... Were you into hip hop before you discovered battle rap, or were you just a rhyming insult comedy fan? Because if it was the latter, maybe your battle rap phase is over. Me, I'm a lifer.

Always listened to hip hop and still do. I think they're so different it's tough to compare.

I think the lack of Summer Madness is a good point. But it most likely is me, I feel there's not the big characters around at the moment in battle rap. Maybe I'll take a month off watching battles.

yes and total slaughter/ether killed it... now there's nothing left to do but laugh and try to enjoy the parody that it's become, short of a gem on the here n there, but even those are becoming more and more scarce.

9 times out of 10 the only ones who don't recognize that we're in the post mortem days are the new fans/millenials who have picked up the torch.

I think theres a kinda uncertain vibe that's happening right now, I don't think battle raps dead or close yet but when you think about it.. theres 4 maybe 5 leagues and out of said leagues there will be times that all of them may have amazing events around the same time of year, maybe sometimes 2 of the leagues will and the others might fall flat, right now none of the leagues have did a really amazing event for a little bit, I think that's whats giving some people that bored vibe, this bunker event, don't flops birthday, and whatever smack does next might change that

I really think they need to push this shit as some internet shit and find out a better way to profit from it, they kept aiming for mega events and TV shit in the last couple years and every time it made BR look stupid AF, ie yaki yaki yaki they need to work out a way to make this viral again, tbh the views at 1mil etc aint even impressive in todays terms

but the backpacker/funny guys went through a real hard time with KOTD seemingly trying to "phase" that shit out imo. but god damn are we making a comeback! shit is actually pretty damn hype for me right now, prob the most hype since 2011........

u know what the youth watch? high school battles. illipsis. epic rap battles of history. me.(in the future)

seriously the demographics of battle fans...the demographics of THIS site keeps aging and not replenishing (with youngings) i am of the very very high belief that battle rap is going to die with US and it lived and died in this generation

idk how u fix this or w.e but this is what i would do if i was the rothschild of battle rap

1) all battles are judged
2) tournaments as big as u can get them WITH it being non-paid (the prize needs to be like..ur a champ or u get to go vs a very high name..has to give u motivation to be a great battler)
3) more local competitions with incentives so good that it that makes ppl go wow... i know billy raps i should tell billy about this

Were you into hip hop before you discovered battle rap, or were you just a rhyming insult comedy fan?

I don't know if it's dying, but because of the current trends (word association/bar heavy) there seems to be less new people standing out and I just don't really like that as much. I definitely give a fuck less than I used to. To be honest, hip hop/rap music brought me over to battle rap around 2009. So my first taste was Grind Time and the birth of KOTD, not SMACK DVD's. So I REALLY like the clever jokes/insult rhymes, shorter rounds kind of format. And since the scene was such a tight community, personals would reverberate live and you could tell the crowd knew what was up. I'd still prefer to laugh then to be hit with straight up bars and schemes the whole time, I'd like a combo of all of it, but with a theme of insulting someone. I definitely enjoy less of who can actually "rap" better without really having to ever address their opponent. But that's the current trend. Long story short, I have no idea if it's dying...it seems pretty big compared to when I first was hearing about it, but it doesn't seem to be trending upward, just kind of sustaining, opposed to growing.

How can you not recognise that "Battle-Rap" is produced for the lowest common denominator of the entertainment market? Well when I was a teenager, I to belonged to that demographic, UNTIL I began to depart from it in 2010/2011, before fully withdrawing from the demographic about 6 months ago. Essentially there was an inverse relationship between enlightenment and approval in battle-rap. The more enlightened I got, the less tolerant I became of Battle-Rap. Hence why I was most enthused by Battle Rap in the mid 2000s and the late 2000s.

I've now fully withdrawn from Battle-Rap, literally haven't watched a battle since April, and I'm not even tempted to relapse.

How can you not recognise that "Battle-Rap" is produced for the lowest common denominator of the entertainment market? Well when I was a teenager, I to belonged to that demographic, UNTIL I began to depart from it in 2010/2011, before fully withdrawing from the demographic about 6 months ago. Essentially there was an inverse relationship between enlightenment and approval in battle-rap. The more enlightened I got, the less tolerant I became of Battle-Rap. Hence why I was most enthused by Battle Rap in the mid 2000s and the late 2000s.

I've now fully withdrawn from Battle-Rap, literally haven't watched a battle since April, and I'm not even tempted to relapse.

While a part of me does get where you're coming from, I gotta say this was an unnecessarily condescending post lol.

I just watch 2 battle or 3 battles max a week and I am really picky about which ones to watch. If you do that, battle rap is still great. Heads be watching garbage like Cali Smoov vs Danja Zone and wondering why it doesn't get them hype, lol.

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Originally Posted by deathstare

and emancee is a faggot

Finally, after years of abuse, Manik snaps and, just like in the Illmac/ Saurus battle, unleashes some of the angriest texting ever.

I don't know if it's dying, but because of the current trends (word association/bar heavy) there seems to be less new people standing out and I just don't really like that as much. I definitely give a fuck less than I used to. To be honest, hip hop/rap music brought me over to battle rap around 2009. So my first taste was Grind Time and the birth of KOTD, not SMACK DVD's. So I REALLY like the clever jokes/insult rhymes, shorter rounds kind of format. And since the scene was such a tight community, personals would reverberate live and you could tell the crowd knew what was up. I'd still prefer to laugh then to be hit with straight up bars and schemes the whole time, I'd like a combo of all of it, but with a theme of insulting someone. I definitely enjoy less of who can actually "rap" better without really having to ever address their opponent. But that's the current trend. Long story short, I have no idea if it's dying...it seems pretty big compared to when I first was hearing about it, but it doesn't seem to be trending upward, just kind of sustaining, opposed to growing.

Right, so you're more into insult comedy than you are into rap. Your phase is ending.

If you take a couple minutes to watch some of this battle from 1989 you'll see that it's not about clever jokes and insults...

To me, battle rap has always been a competition to determine the better MC. It's not a part of hip hop, it IS hip hop. Somewhere along the line people who weren't all that into rap came in and started changing it to rhyming insult comedy.

You say that you don't like the associative wordplay (puns) and bars, but battle rap has always, always, ALWAYS been about lyricism, creativity, and proving yourself a better rapper than your opponent. Today, the lyricism is more advanced than ever. That said, battle rap is pretty oversaturated now, and there's more poor to average rappers than there are great rappers. However, there's still plenty of great rappers.

There will be ups and downs, but battle rap will never end unless hip hop as a whole ends. If you think otherwise, then you most likely aren't all that much into rap, and the novelty of rhyming insult comedy is wearing off for you. I was never into rhyming insult comedy, so imo, battle rap is better than ever. If rhyming insult comedy is dying, Idk, I don't pay that much attention to it, but good riddance to bad rubbish, as far as I'm concerned.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by uuuununnn

honestly i dont even watch battles , i listen to the audio while staring into the mirror at my own reactions

Right, so you're more into insult comedy than you are into rap. Your phase is ending.

If you take a couple minutes to watch some of this battle from 1989 you'll see that it's not about clever jokes and insults...

To me, battle rap has always been a competition to determine the better MC. It's not a part of hip hop, it IS hip hop. Somewhere along the line people who weren't all that into rap came in and started changing it to rhyming insult comedy.

You say that you don't like the associative wordplay (puns) and bars, but battle rap has always, always, ALWAYS been about lyricism, creativity, and proving yourself a better rapper than your opponent. Today, the lyricism is more advanced than ever. That said, battle rap is pretty oversaturated now, and there's more poor to average rappers than there are great rappers. However, there's still plenty of great rappers.

There will be ups and downs, but battle rap will never end unless hip hop as a whole ends. If you think otherwise, then you most likely aren't all that much into rap, and the novelty of rhyming insult comedy is wearing off for you. I was never into rhyming insult comedy, so imo, battle rap is better than ever. If rhyming insult comedy is dying, Idk, I don't pay that much attention to it, but good riddance to bad rubbish, as far as I'm concerned.

This post is good, but there are plenty of stories from that era or rhyming insult comedy just few videos. Read some of the stories about Biz Markie battling and basically winning battles Daylyt style and you'll see what I mean!

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Quote:

Originally Posted by deathstare

and emancee is a faggot

Finally, after years of abuse, Manik snaps and, just like in the Illmac/ Saurus battle, unleashes some of the angriest texting ever.

Right, so you're more into insult comedy than you are into rap. Your phase is ending.

That's not necessarily what i'm saying, but that's a good point for those that got into battle rap exclusively for the comedy angle and aren't fans of hip hop. I'm saying I grew up on hip hop (LOVE 90's era more than anything), but when I first got into battle rap it was more insult/jokes based (Grind Time). I love bars and schemes, but not solely as such, I like it mixed in with comedy and clowning' on people. At the time I started getting into battle rap specifically, it was more on the joke side, but I enjoy clever jokes and the way they are said with different angles. I enjoy the hell out of the comedy angles and punches with clever wordplay on how to get to that point. But as a whole, I listen to a lot less newer rap music than ever, keyed into more of the era's that I truly loved late 80's through early 2000's. That may translate to battle rap for me, whereas I like the era that I'm used to and have a hard time adapting to newer trends.

This post is good, but there are plenty of stories from that era or rhyming insult comedy just few videos. Read some of the stories about Biz Markie battling and basically winning battles Daylyt style and you'll see what I mean!

Oh, most definitely, but I feel like there's space in MCing for insults. I mean, at the end of the day, it's really just self expression, and that leaves room for all kinds of styles and creativity. My thing is that some people seem to think rhyming insults is what it's all about.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by uuuununnn

honestly i dont even watch battles , i listen to the audio while staring into the mirror at my own reactions

That's not necessarily what i'm saying, but that's a good point for those that got into battle rap exclusively for the comedy angle and aren't fans of hip hop. I'm saying I grew up on hip hop (LOVE 90's era more than anything), but when I first got into battle rap it was more insult/jokes based (Grind Time). I love bars and schemes, but not solely as such, I like it mixed in with comedy and clowning' on people. At the time I started getting into battle rap specifically, it was more on the joke side, but I enjoy clever jokes and the way they are said with different angles. I enjoy the hell out of the comedy angles and punches with clever wordplay on how to get to that point. But as a whole, I listen to a lot less newer rap music than ever, keyed into more of the era's that I truly loved late 80's through early 2000's. That may translate to battle rap for me, whereas I like the era that I'm used to and have a hard time adapting to newer trends.

I hear where you're coming from, believe me, but I disagree with what you call "trends" because that makes it seem like lyricism or the different wordplay techniques are new or fads. Lyricism, overall, has advanced/evolved, and a lot of people overdo some techniques, but I believe there's still a lot of variety. It's just that there's so many battles nowadays it can kinda seem like it all runs together. Truth be told, I'm pretty selective with what battles I watch, and I might only watch maybe one or two a week, if at all. But I'll still every now and then find myself in a mood where I'll just watch a handful of battles for old times sake.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by uuuununnn

honestly i dont even watch battles , i listen to the audio while staring into the mirror at my own reactions

I hear where you're coming from, believe me, but I disagree with what you call "trends" because that makes it seem like lyricism or the different wordplay techniques are new or fads. Lyricism, overall, has advanced/evolved, and a lot of people overdo some techniques, but I believe there's still a lot of variety. It's just that there's so many battles nowadays it can kinda seem like it all runs together. Truth be told, I'm pretty selective with what battles I watch, and I might only watch maybe one or two a week, if at all. But I'll still every now and then find myself in a mood where I'll just watch a handful of battles for old times sake.

One more thing before I go.. the same issue I have with "trends" can be applied to rap music, in general. Just off the top of my head, wayne is like a thugged out eminem to me. Future, and other mumble rappers are like bone thugz. Drake is like LL cool J mixed with devin the dude. Even Lonely Island is like Wierd Al Yankovic. It goes on and on...

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Quote:

Originally Posted by uuuununnn

honestly i dont even watch battles , i listen to the audio while staring into the mirror at my own reactions

Listening to two lyrical masters out-complex eachother is booooooring. Watching them move their hands across the air as though theyre watching the words appear in MS word is a metaphor for the current state of battle rap.